The team makes and maintains on stage weaponry for both The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet, as well as ensuring all artists are fully trained in its safe use.

'As a member of the Armoury Department you need to be able to turn your hand to a vast number of skills', says Assistant Head Armourer Zoe Phillips. 'At the moment the main show we're working on is Guillaume Tell. Currently I'm creating the crossbows but orchestrating the armory for the whole performance too. We have over seventy people to kit out with armoury. That will include individual items like belts and holsters, down to guns and rifles. We also have blank firing guns in the performance.'

Did you know that the Royal Opera House has its very own armoury? It's not that we're planning on invading any neighbouring West End theatres (the odd transfer from the Linbury aside), but such is the demand for weaponry in opera and ballet productions featuring revolutions, swashbuckling and crimes of passion, that a full-time team is needed to look after our arsenal of stage firearms, swords, chainmail and spears.

Assistant Head Armourer Zoe Phillips recently spoke to BBC Radio 4's Midweek about what the job requires.

'We make a variety of items, depending on what's required', Zoe told presenter Libby Purves. 'We have some knives that resemble spoons because they're so blunt and safe that they don't look very much like a knife anymore... and we have knifes that are sharp. We might be asked to make a knife that is sharp enough to cut an apple but not cut someone's hand, which is a slightly difficult brief to fulfil!'

Zoe is currently working on Damiano Michieletto's new Royal Opera production of Rossini's Guillaume Tell and has the task of making the crossbow that will shoot the famed apple from the head of the lead character's son:

'It's quite a big show for us as we have a lot of armory to provide. We're making a trick crossbow but the brief has changed slightly so I'm in the process of making alternative versions because the creative team require it to do different things to the original brief. I believe an actor will be using the crossbow. It does need to work night after night, and quite safely too! I'm working to provide two options and we'll see which works better on stage.'

So how do you find yourself working in an armoury, making and maintaining weapons for some of the world's top opera singers and ballet dancers?

'When I was much younger, I wanted to be an artist, then a puppeteer - I wanted to go and work for Jim Henson', Zoe said. 'That didn't quite work out but I continued my pursuit as a maker and did a foundation course, and then a degree at Wimbledon College of Art. I then worked as a freelancer in film and theatre and finally got to the opera house as the laborer in the carpentry shop at the Royal Opera House. I wanted to be in that world and I wanted to move up. Fortunately I've had lots of opportunity to do that.'

Safety is paramount and something that the Armoury team takes very seriously, training everyone who uses a weapon and ensuring that they're fully briefed before they take to the stage:

'We have quite strict protocol that at the start of a rehearsal period, we will give a complete safety briefing, and complete safety training which is a longer process and then before every performer, we'll either go to dressing rooms or see the performer when it's convenient on the side-stage to run over a safety reminder. And if we haven't gone through that stage, we don't give them a weapon.'

So focused on safety is the team that the only mishap that tends to arise is a mis-firing gun, but the team is on hand to ensure that silence doesn't lead to an anticlimax at the critical moment:

'We will stand by with a cover shot, so if a gun doesn't go off on the side of the stage we're in the wings waiting to pull the trigger on our own one. The adrenaline is quite intense at that point!'

Guillaume Tell runs 29 June–17 July 2015.
General booking opens on 31 March. The production will be broadcast live to cinemas around the world on 5 July 2015. Find your nearest cinema.
The production is staged with generous philanthropic support from Hélène and Jean Peters and David Hancock.

The Royal Opera House recently held a prize-giving ceremony to congratulate apprentice Sabrina Clarke on completing an 18-month apprenticeship with the Armoury Department, the team that produce all of the magnificent weaponry seen on stage.

Creative and hard-working, Sabrina showed unwavering commitment and enthusiasm to learn and develop her skills, which have recently been showcased on stage in an epic new production of Les Troyens. For the staging, Sabrina was tasked with creating hundreds of leather belts, holsters, and daggers for the large cast of singers and actors.

"I used skills involved in both metal work and leather work to create weapons, but there is also a certain amount of research needed to make sure everything is historically accurate – there is an extensive collection of books and models here in the Armoury which we use for reference!"

During the lead-up to the production she was able to achieve a Level 2 ABC Award qualification in Leather Goods Production. As well as receiving training at the Royal Opera House, Sabrina spent three months at the Mulberry factory, under the tuition of leather goods industry experts, developing and honing the leather working skills that are required by armourers, as well as an industry-leading fashion brand.

From wig makers and tailors to scenic metal workers and painters, The Royal Opera House employs a huge range of highly skilled staff employed in traditional crafts. The apprenticeship scheme, which was launched in 2007, provides places for up to eight young people every year, offering the chance for them to gain high-quality vocational training with some of the best in the industry. If you are interested in the scheme, take a look at the Areas of Interest Form on our website - if you fill in out we can let you know when opportunities are coming up.

Following the completion of her apprenticeship, Sabrina hopes to undertake some work next season with the Armoury department, as well as travelling to Italy in search of work with an Italian Opera House or theatre. Equipped with the invaluable skills and experience she has gained during her time at the Royal Opera House, we are certain Sabrina has a promising future ahead of her in the theatre industry – we wish her well!